Busted meters are no barrier to New Plymouth
Drivers in New Plymouth are crying foul over the council continuing to issue parking tickets in the central business area despite almost half its meters not working correctly.
Some machines have crashed completely while many no longer accept cash, leaving motorists fearing an instant $40 fine.
Of the 96 parking meters in the central business area, just 53 are working properly. Eight are dead, while the remaining 35 do not accept one form of payment.
One motorist, Trish, said she popped into town for a bite of lunch, but the meter she tried wanted nothing to do with her coins.
‘‘The money went straight through, came straight out, and that gentleman there, he tried the same and the money just came straight out – so we’re afraid we’re going to get a $40 fine, because if you don’t put any money in, a $40 fine is just automatic.’’
When a meter did not accept coins, the council expected drivers to hike to the nearest machine that did – or use a paywave credit card or the Paymypark app. It continued to fine people if there was a machine nearby with one payment form operating.
Trish said she was not keen on using her credit card for such small amounts. ‘‘No. For 50 cents or a dollar, no.’’
She had not tried the app either.
‘‘No, I haven’t. I guess I’m behind the times there. You’re talking to an old lady here.’’
Trish said she reckoned cash was king.
Mike Hignett, who had similar problems, was on the same page.
‘‘It wouldn’t accept any cash, it wouldn’t accept my coins, and that’s all I wanted to use, so what do I do? Wait until I get a ticket and go around and talk to them?’’
Alternative forms of payment were not for him either.
‘‘I could use paywave, but apparently that costs you more, doesn’t it? And I’m not that familiar with it. I just like to bang some coins in. I don’t like to use my credit card.’’
The app got the thumbs down, too. ‘‘No, no, I’m too old for that, to be worried about that. I don’t use it.’’
Morris West said he parked in town for work. He reckoned the council should stop issuing parking fines.
‘‘Not at all, not even in the slightest, and even if they overpark now, because apparently,
I’ve been told that the sensors underneath the cars don’t work any more anyway.’’
West said he was fed up with faulty parking meters, and reckoned no-one should be fined.
Installed in 2012 at a cost of $1.2 million, five years later the 1600 sensors needed replacing for a further $800,000 because they no longer communicated with the wardens’ hand-held devices.
Then in 2020, about 500 sensors were turned off after their batteries started exploding following a botched attempt at waterproofing them.
Councillor Murray Chong, who has previously spoken out about the city’s parking meter woes, said he believed no-one should be fined.
‘‘If we haven’t got a service that’s fit for purpose, why are we fining these people?
‘‘People go into town and they know the meters are there. If the meters aren’t working, what are they supposed to do?’’
He wanted to know who was responsible for maintaining the meters and who was paying to fix them.
‘‘If we haven’t got a service that’s fit for purpose, why are we fining these people?’’ Councillor Murray Chong